Roundup: Dispute among Merkel's conservatives escalates as Bavaria threatens lawsuit over refugees

The dispute over refugees within the conservative bloc of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has escalated as Merkel's Bavarian allies threatened to take legal action against the German federal government.

Bavaria's state government sent a letter on Tuesday to the federal government calling for Berlin to effectively secure the German border and limit the number of refugees allowed to enter, according to German newspaper FAZ.

Should Berlin not respond to the proposal outlined in the letter, Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), could file an action in the German Federal Constitutional Court against the government.

Merkel is facing renewed pressure from her own conservative party to reduce the influx of asylum seekers arriving in Germany, after a record inflow of over one million people last year sapped their support.

Tensions have been simmering in recent months between Merkel's CDU and its rally CSU. While Seehofer, Merkel's most outspoken critic, has been appealing for a cap on Germany's refugee intake, the chancellor has stressed several times that she would not introduce an upper limit.

Instead, Merkel believed that the refugee problem should be tackled through Europe-wide solutions.

The development on Tuesday was met with both sympathy and criticism within the CDU.

Interior expert Wolfgang Bosbach has shown understanding for Bavaria's lawsuit threat against the government. "The border between Austria and Bavaria has been most affected by the refugee influx. No other German federal state has carried such a burden like Bavaria in recent months," Bosbach told German media.

Foreign policy expert Norbert Roettgen however, criticized the move by the Bavarian government. "I am also for direct communication...There is no reason for letters," he said.

Roettgen warned that national border management could have an "immediate domino effect" and lead to a backlog of tens of thousands of refugees in the Balkans.

Meanwhile, Julia Kloeckner, one of the five deputy chairpersons of Merkel's CDU, defended her recent proposal for reducing the number of refugees entering Germany.

Kloeckner's "Plan A2" foresees flexible daily quotas of the number of people to be allowed in based on capacity of German municipalities to accommodate new arrivals, as well as the establishment of "border centers" to check asylum applicants.

Kloeckner, CDU's candidate for state premier in the Rhineland-Palatinate election in March, assured Tuesday that her proposal had nothing to do with a ceiling for refugee intakes.

She also said her plan did not contradict Merkel's current refugee policy, but rather supplemented it.

On Sunday evening, CDU parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder told German media that Kloeckner's proposal was not a diversion from Merkel's multiple strategy, adding it was important "that alongside the focus on a EU solution, national steps also have to be promoted."

A whole set of Kloeckner's suggestions were already contained in an amendment bill on asylum to be finalized by Merkel's cabinet later this week, said Kauder. Endit